[<a href="https://www.newstribune.com/news/health/" style="color:#33AEFF">access the News Tribune Health section</a>]
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has emerged as a champion of defying stay-home orders intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading, picking up support - as well as critics - on social media.
Among the supporters was President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday morning tweeted Tesla's San Francisco Bay Area factory should be allowed to open despite local health department orders that it stay closed except for minimum basic operations.
"It can be done fast & safely," the president tweeted, joining many of Musk's 34 million Twitter followers who back the defiance.
Among Musk's biggest critics is California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez. She said the company is disregarding worker safety and bullying public officials.
Tesla's factory reopened Monday with Musk practically daring local authorities to arrest him. The plant continued operations Tuesday. The company met a Monday deadline to submit a site-specific plan to protect worker safety, which the Alameda County Public Health Department is reviewing, county spokeswoman Neetu Balram said.
The restart defied orders from the county health department, which has deemed the factory a nonessential business that can't fully open under virus restrictions. The department said Monday it warned the company was operating in violation of the county health order, and hoped Tesla will "comply without further enforcement measures" until the county approves a site-specific plan required by the state.
"We look forward to reviewing Tesla's plan and coming to agreement on protocol and a timeline to reopen safely," the statement read.
State law allows a fine of up to $1,000 a day or up to 90 days in jail for operating in violation of health orders.
The plant in Fremont, a city of more than 230,000 people south of San Francisco, had been closed since March 23. It employs about 10,000 workers.
Public health experts have credited the stay-home orders with slowing the spread of novel coronavirus, helping hospitals handle an influx of cases. The coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. However, it has killed more than 80,000 people in the U.S., with the death toll rising.
Alameda County was among six San Francisco Bay Area counties that were the first in the nation to impose stay-at-home orders in mid-March. Gov. Gavin Newsom has repeatedly said counties can impose restrictions that are more stringent than state orders.
The order in the Bay Area has been extended until the end of the month, but the counties plan to allow some limited business and manufacturing starting May 18, the same day Detroit automakers plan to reopen auto assembly plants. Some auto parts plants were to restart production this week.